Customer relationship management portal system and method

ABSTRACT

A software-based customer relationship management system and method.

PRIORITY CLAIM/RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority under 35 USC 119(e) to U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application Ser. No. 60/903,082 filed on Feb. 23, 2007 andentitled “Customer Relationship Management System and Method”, theentirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

The invention relates generally to a business software system and methodand in particular to a software-based system and method for providingcustomer relationship management.

BACKGROUND

Customer relationship management (CRM) systems and solutions are wellknown. For example, typical known CRM systems include Microsoft® CRM,SalesForce, a CRM product provided by SalesForce.com, Netsuite CRM, andSAP Business One CRM. However, conventional CRM systems have significantlimitations that include a lack of flexibility, high costs, and aclosed-source structure which is embedded into the traditional productofferings. These limitations have led to a failure rate of over 70% withtraditional CRM implementations. Thus, it is desirable to provide acustomer relationship management system and method that overcomes theselimitations of typical CRM systems and it is to this end that theinvention is directed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a diagram illustrating a customer relationship managementsystem that incorporates the various features of the invention;

FIG. 1B illustrates more details of the customer relationship managementsystem that incorporates the various features of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the user interface of thesystem in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of the dashboard user interface during thedrag/drop process;

FIGS. 4 and 5 show the dashboard user interface when the drag/dropprocess has been completed;

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a forecasts home page user interface ofthe system shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 illustrates a duplicate checking method in accordance with theinvention;

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of the user interface for sugarPlanet;

FIG. 9 illustrates a portal of the customer relationship managementsystem;

FIG. 10 illustrates a studio tool that may be used to generate a portal;

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a portal preview within the studiotool;

FIGS. 12 and 13 illustrate an example of a portal having a cases portiongenerated using the studio tool;

FIG. 14 illustrate an example of a newsletter portion of the portion inFIGS. 12 and 13;

FIG. 15 illustrates a user interface rendering method; and

FIG. 16 illustrates an example of the metadata used to generate the userinterface.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The system and method are particularly applicable to an open sourcecustomer relationship management software system and it is in thiscontext that the system and method will be described. It will beappreciated, however, that the algorithms, data structures, processesand modules of the system and method have greater utility since thesemodules, algorithms, data structures and processes disclosed herein canbe equally applied to other non-open source CRM systems, as well asother business software application systems as well as other databasesoftware systems. For purposes of illustration, the described system isan implementation in a customer relationship management (CRM) andgroupware system. In the example below, the CRM and groupware system isthe Sugar Enterprise version 4.5 commercially available from SugarCRMInc.

The system may be implemented using a base class known as SugarBean, anda data retrieval API. A few of the methods provided in the base classinclude methods for building list queries, saving, and retrievingindividual items. Each specific type of data creates a subclass of thisbase class. The base class is called SugarBean in the illustrativeexample that is described below. There is at least one subclass ofSugarBean for each module. SugarBeans also are used for creatingdatabase tables, cleaning out database tables, loading records, loadinglists, saving records, and maintaining relationships. One example of aSugarBean subclass is a Contact subclass. The Contact subclass is asimple object that fills in some member variables on the SugarBean andleverages SugarBean for much of its logic and functionality. Forexample, the security associated with the Contact subclass isautomatically created for Contact by SugarBean that contains, amongother things, the functions and processes that are shared by the othermodules. Another example of a SugarBean subclass is Users which is amodule that is security related and contains the list of users as wellas users who should not have row level security (described below in moredetail) applied to them. For this reason these modules have the bypassflag set to skip adding the right join for verifying security. TheSugarCRM Sugar Professional system is a web based system with manyconcurrent users. Since this program contains critical data to theusers, it is imperative that they have quick access to the system andtheir data. The most frequent activity in the program is to look atexisting data.

FIG. 1A is a diagram illustrating a customer relationship management(CRM) system 100 that is an example of a software-based businesssoftware application. In one embodiment, the system 100 may beimplemented as a software system and the elements shown in FIGS. 1A and1B are thus implemented as a plurality of lines of computer code thatmay be executed by a processor of a computer system, such as a servercomputer wherein the various lines of computer code are stored in amemory associated with the computer system and the system interfaceswith a database 110 that stores the data associated with the system 100.The system may have one or more clients 102, such as a browserapplication executed on a typical computing device (a browser clientsession), that accesses the system over a communications network 103such as the Internet, a cellular network, a wireless network and thelike. The computing devices may include a laptop, table or desktopcomputer system, a PDA, a mobile phone, a portable wireless email deviceand the like. The client's 102 interactions with the system are managedand go through a set of one or more controllers 104. The controllers 104are the entry-point into the system for an entity that is using thesystem wherein the entity may be a person who accesses the system, suchas by using a browser application, a computing device or a softwareprogram that uses this entry point. The controllers 104 take care offunctions and operations including, for example, session tracking,session security and user authentication. The controllers also, for eachuser, prepare the screen/user interface or the wrapper for the contentand determine which module of the application the user is trying toaccess and get the requested module to process the request.

The system has one or more modules 106 that are components ofapplication functionality and provide certain functionality to theentity accessing the system. The modules 106 of the exemplary CRM systemshown in FIG. 1A may include, by way of example, a portal module, acalendar module, an activities module, a contacts module, an accountsmodule, a leads module, an opportunities module, a quotes module, aproducts module, a cases module, a bug tracker module, a documentsmodule, an emails module, a campaigns module, a project module, an RSSmodule, a forecasts module, a reports module and a dashboard module. Thesystem may include different, more or fewer modules and the systems withthose other combination of modules are within the scope of the systemand method. Each of these modules provides a different functionality tothe users of the system so that, for example, the calendar moduleprovides a calendaring functionality to the CRM system that isinstantiated with the system. The system may also include anadministration module that handles the typical administrative functionsof the system. In the exemplary system shown in FIG. 1A, each modulecontains a subclass of a SugarBean base object 108 and each modulereferences the SugarBean to retrieve the data from the database 110required for display and uses certain functions and operationsinstantiated in the SugarBean base object.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the user interface 120 ofthe system in FIGS. 1A and 1B. The user interface may include a home tab121 (that is selected in FIG. 2) that provides a general overview ofCases, Opportunities, Appointments, Leads, Tasks, Calendar, TeamNotices, and Pipeline for the particular user since each user interfaceis customized for each user based on the access levels and parametersassociated with that particular user. The home tab may also includeshortcuts to enter various different types of data, and a quick form fornew contacts. The home tab also provides a quick overview of whatcustomer tasks and activities that the user needs to focus on today. Theportal module (selected using a “My portal” tab 122), contains a seriesof shortcuts which can link to any web site chosen by the user that mayinclude e-mail, forums, or any other web-based application, allowing thesystem to become a single user interface for multiple applications. Thecalendar module may be selected by a calendar tab 124 and allows theuser to view scheduled activities (by day, week, month or year), such asmeetings, tasks, and calls. The system also allows the user to sharehis/her calendar with coworkers which is a powerful tool forcoordinating the daily activities. The activities module is selectedusing an activities tab 126 and allows the user to create or updatescheduled activities, or to search for existing activities. By managingActivities within the context of an Account, Contact, Lead, Opportunity,or Case, the system allows the user to manage the myriad of calls,meetings, notes, emails and tasks that the user needs to track in orderto get the job done. The tasks are for tracking any action that needs tobe managed to completion by a due date, the notes allow the user tocapture note information as well as upload file attachments, the callsallow the user to track phone calls with leads and customers, meetingsare like calls, but also allow the user to track the location of themeeting and emails allow the user to archive sent or received emailmessages and to send or receive email messages.

The contacts module is accessed by a contacts tab 128 and allows theuser to view a paginated contact list, or search for a contact. The usercan click on a specific contact to zoom in on the detailed contactrecord and, from a specific contact record, the user may link to therelated account, or leads, opportunities, cases, or direct reports(related contacts). Within the system, contacts are the people with whomthe organization does business. As with accounts, the system allows theuser to track a variety of contact information such as title, emailaddress, and other data. Contacts are usually linked to an Account,although this is not required. The accounts module may be accessed usingan accounts tab 130 and the user may view a paginated account list, orsearch for an account. The user can click on a specific account to zoomin on the detailed account record and, from a specific account record,the user may link to related contacts, activities, leads, opportunities,cases, or member organizations. Accounts are the companies with whichthe organization does business and the system allows the user to track avariety of information about an account including website, main address,number of employees and other data. Business subsidiaries can be linkedto parent businesses in order to show relationships between accounts.

The leads module may be accessed by a leads tab 132 that permits theuser to view a paginated list of leads, or search for a specific lead.The user can click on an individual lead to zoom in on the leadinformation record and, from that detailed lead record, the user canlink to all related activities, and see the activity history for thelead. Leads are the people or companies with whom the organization mightdo business in the future. Designed to track that first point ofinteraction with a potential customer, leads are usually the hand offbetween the marketing department and the sales department. Not to beconfused with a contact or account, leads can often contain incompleteor inaccurate information whereas contacts and accounts stored in SugarEnterprise are core to many business processes that require accuratedata. Leads are typically fed into the Sugar Enterprise stemautomatically from your website, trade show lists or other methods.However, the user can also directly enter leads into Sugar Enterprisemanually.

The opportunities module is accessed by an opportunities tab 134 andpermits the user to view a paginated list of opportunities, or searchfor a specific opportunity. The user can click on an individualopportunity to zoom in on the opportunity information record and, fromthat detailed opportunity record, the user can link to all relatedactivities, see the activity history for the opportunity, and link torelated leads and contacts. Opportunities track the process of selling agood or service to a potential customer. Once a selling process hascommenced with a lead, a lead should be converted into a contact andpossibly also an account for example among other items. Opportunitieshelp the user manage the selling process by tracking attributes such assales stages, probability of close, deal amount and other information.The quotes module may be accessed by a quotes tab 136 and permits theuser to view a paginated list of customer quotes, or search for aspecific quote. The user can click on an individual quote to zoom in onthe detailed quote information. A quote is formed by referencing productand pricing from a catalog of products you may create. A presentationquality Portable Document Format (PDF) representation of the quote maybe created to fax or email to a client. Quotes may be associated with,for example, Accounts, Contacts, or Opportunities among other modules inthe system and the system is not limited to a quote being associatedwith any particular set of modules.

The products module may be accessed by a products tab 138 and permitsthe user to view a paginated list of products, or search for a specificproduct. The user can click on an individual product to zoom in on thedetailed product information. A product is used when assembling acustomer quote. The cases module may be accessed using a cases tab 140and may permit the user to view a paginated list of cases, or search fora specific case. The user can click on an individual case to zoom in onthe case information record and, from that detailed case record, theuser can link to all related activities, see the activity history forthe case, and link to related contacts. The cases are the handoffbetween the sales department and the customer support department andhelp customer support representatives manage support problems orinquiries to completion by tracking information for each case such asits status and priority, the user assigned, as well as a full trail ofall related open and completed activities. A dashboard (such as thatshown for example in FIG. 2B) module may be accessed using a dashboardtab 142 and permits the user to view a dashboard of the information inthe CRM system.

The documents module may show the user a list of documents that the usercan access, view and/or download. The user can also upload documents,assign publish and expiration dates, and specify which users can accessthem. The email module allows the user to write and send emails and tocreate Email Templates that can be used with email-based marketingcampaigns. The user can also read, compose, save drafts, send andarchive emails. The campaigns module helps the user implement and trackmarketing campaigns wherein the campaigns may be telemarketing, webbanner, web tracker, mail or email based. For each Campaign, the usercan create the Prospects list from the Contacts or Leads or outside filesources. The projects module helps the user manage tasks related tospecific projects. Tasks can be assigned to different users and assignedestimated hours of effort and, as tasks are in progress and completed,users can update the information for each task. The RSS module permitsthe user to view the latest headlines provided by your favorite ReallySimple Syndication (RSS) feeds. These feeds provide news or other webcontent that is distributed or syndicated by web sites which publishtheir content in this manner. The system has information on hundreds ofRSS feeds available as supplied, and others may easily be added.

The forecasts module shows the user his/her committed forecast historyand current opportunities. For managers, the user can view your team'srolled up forecasts. The reports module shows the user a list of savedcustom reports not yet published, as well as a list of PublishedReports. Saved reports may be viewed, deleted or published, andpublished reports may be viewed, deleted or un-published. Clicking onthe name of a report zooms to the detailed definition of the reportcriteria (fields to be displayed, and filter settings) for that report,permitting the user to alter the criteria, and re-submit the reportquery. Finally, the dashboard module displays a graphical dashboard ofthe user's Opportunity Pipeline by Sales Stage, Opportunities by LeadSource by Outcome, Pipeline by Month by Outcome, and Opportunities byLead Source. The system also′supports users putting graphs from theirreports directly on their dashboards.

Returning to FIG. 1A, the system also includes the database 110 thatcontains the data of the system and a security module 112 (row levelsecurity) that implements the security methods to control access to thedata in the database 110 since the database is shared by all users ofthe system and the data must be segregated based on the users and theiraccess level to different pieces of data. The system may also include adatabase abstraction layer 114 that is coupled between the database 110and the SugarBean object 108 and acts as an interface between thedatabase 110 and the SugarBean object 108. The SugarBean object 108provides the base logic required for retrieving, making available andwriting information to/from the database and each module createssubclasses of SugarBean (an example of which was described above) toprovide module specific details, module specific data and modulespecific data views. During the process of retrieving data from thedatabase, the SugarBean 108 makes calls that populate the row levelsecurity information into the SQL engine/database management system thatretrieves the data.

Once the data is retrieved from the database by the SugarBean object108, the module uses a template mechanism 118 and a theme 116 to producethe requested presentation (user interface) for the user. The templatemechanism reformats the data from the database 110 into a particularform while the theme adjusts the user interface according to the user'spreferences.

If, for instance, the user requests an HTML presentation of the detailview of the contact module for a specified contact, the system mayperform that request as will now be described. The request of the useris directed to controller named index.php that handles most of the logicfor the main application. The controller loads the current userinformation, verifies authentication and session information for theparticular user session, loads the language for the user (based on theuser preferences) and generates some of the user interface shell. Thecontroller then calls the contact module and request the detail view forthe specified contact. The contact module then retrieves the requestedcontact using the Sugarbean. The SugarBean verifies row level securityfor the requested contact at this point (with assistance from thesecurity module 112. If the record is not retrieved successfully, thenthe process aborts and the user is not allowed to view the data for therecord. If the retrieve process succeeds with the requested contactdata, the Contact module uses the templating mechanism, such as forexample XTemplate or Smarty, in the template mechanism 118 and the codefor the current user's theme (retrieved by the theme module 116) is usedto create the user interface for the presentation of the particularContact data to the particular user. The resulting user interface thenis sent back to the computing device with of client that requested it.

FIG. 1B illustrates more details of the customer relationship managementsystem 100. Like elements shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B have like referencenumerals. The system may interface with a typical browser application103 (being executed by a computing device) that can access the system100 over the web. For example, the examples of the user interface beloware web-based views generated by the system and displayed on a browserapplication. The system may further comprise an application programminginterface (APIs) portion 105, that may preferably use the well knownsimple object access protocol (SOAP), to interface with other existingsystem and applications. For example, the APIs may be used to interfaceto an email plug-in 109, such as an SugarCRM Plug-In for MicrosoftOutlook®, that enhances the email program to allow it to interact withthe system 100. As shown, the system 100, in one implementation, isimplemented on a web server application 107 (that may be the well knownApache web server that includes IIS functionality) that generatesdynamic web pages (using the known PHP language). The web server and theother elements of the system may be implemented as software running onone or more servers wherein the servers may use various differentoperating system as shown in FIG. 1B. The system 100 may also have anemail module 111 capable of sending email via a local program (that maypreferably be sendmail) or an email server leveraging the SMTP protocol.Now, a process for dashboard customization that may be implemented inthe system shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B as well as other business softwaresystems is described.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of the user interface 150 during thedrag/drop process wherein the cursor is now a positioning indicator 154that permits the user to reposition the pipeline by sales stage chartusing a drag-drop methodology. When the chart is positioned correctly,the user can release the mouse, ending the drag-drop operation andplacing the chart into its new position (See FIG. 4) and shuffling othercharts accordingly. As shown in FIG. 5, the top position in thedashboard is now occupied by another chart as part of the reshufflingthat occurs in response to the drag-drop procedure. The new layout issaved for the current user and is automatically used on futurerenderings of the dashboard tab.

While the initial implementation of this functionality allowsrearranging of graphs on the dashboard, the functionality will also workfor rearranging any objects visible on the screen on a per user basis sothat the user interface is user customizable. Example of objects thatcan be arranged using this approach include sub-panels, Home ScreenLayout (FIG. 2 every section in the main portion of the screen: MyUpcoming Appointments, My Top Open Opportunities, . . . Team Notices, MyPipeline, the Calendar) where the user can select the content as well asthe location for each piece of content. Similar techniques are beingintegrated into the editor for our system to allow easier customizationof the layout of the user interface (including all fields on allscreens). In accordance with the invention, the system may also permitthe administrator to place a limit in the number of user interfacecomponents that a given user has on the screen at any given time.

For the sub-panel customization, the system permits the user tocustomize the ordering of the sub-panels (so that the user may be ableto reorder the sub panels in any way) and the inclusion of certain subpanels under detail views. The reordering of the sub panels allows auser to place the sub panels they use most often in the best locationfor them to work. Then, sub panels that the user does not want to seemay be hidden (collapsed), put into a bar, turned into an icon, orcompletely hidden from the user interface depending on the preference ofthe user. This sub panel customization may decrease the clutter of theuser interface, but also decrease the amount of server side workrequired to present the user interface to the client since the userinterface for the hidden sub panels do not need to be updated.

The dashboard customization may also permit the user to create multipletabs that contain components of user interface from other portions ofthe application where these components can be combined from differentmodules and may include but are not limited to: lists, graphs, pictures,notices, forums, videos, and sounds. In addition, an initial viewpresented to a user can be defined based on the role of the user in thesystem so that, for example, components of the user interface may behidden based on user role or, if a user is not a member of the financedepartment, for instance, the particular user may not be able to viewcredit scores, credit history, and credit card information. The userinterface editing studio (used by the administrator) may show the groupsthat can see which fields and it may also be able to present a previewof the UI as it will look to a particular user segment.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a forecasts home page user interface160 of the system shown in FIG. 1. The functions of seeing, managing andupdating the sales department quotas and pipelines of the sales is oneof the more critical functions that an executive performs. The forecastshome page 160 makes the process of setting, managing, and updatingquotas and forecasts easier. In general, the time periods taken forquotas and forecasting are dynamic and each time period can be composedof smaller time periods (years composed of quarters which are composedof months).

Using the CRM system shown in FIG. 1, managers can assign quotas for anysales rep under them for any time period. As an example, a manager canset the Q3 2006 objective of a sales representative to one milliondollars. Once a quota is assigned for a given time period, the salesrepresentatives, their managers, and all people in the management chain(and support staff for those people) can see how well users are doingcompared to their quota (assuming that the person has the appropriateprivileges to view that information.) In addition, the user'sopportunity pipeline can be compared against their quota and closeddeals can be taking into account as absolutes. Deals that are in processcan be weighted based on their expected probability to close in thegiven time period. An example of a report for fiscal year 2006 thatshows a view of the user's forecast and the forecast of the group towhich the user belongs is shown in FIG. 6 although the system is able togenerate various other reports that are all within the scope of theinvention. Another example is a report that presents the user or team'squota, current forecast, current pipeline, and actual closedopportunities in the time period and this report gives a quick highlevel view of the current status of each member of the organization andthe status of the quota and sales targets as a whole.

The system may also permit a user to analyze information based on thepast performance of the sales representative and managers involved tohelp determine a more accurate projection of the expected income. Thisprojection may use historic performance, seasonal performance, and/orexternal indicators (consumer confidence, analyst expectations, . . . )to provide the projection.

When a user is managing their forecast (See FIG. 6), the user has theability to commit from a high level and also drill into each deal. Whenthe user sees the deals, the user can manually change their expectedvalue from the deal. In addition to the manual efforts, the CRM systemmay also provide an estimated value based on past performance andcurrent conditions (similar to pipeline projections, but applied toopportunities). The system may also provide real time advice to users asthey project their forecasts.

When a manager is maintaining their forecast, they have a tree ofworksheets available. The tree is a representation that allows themanager to skip around through their hierarchy and changeexpected/projected values for opportunities. If any external factors haschanged since the estimate was created, the system can notify the userof those changes and allow them to accept the new change, provide a newoverride value (their estimate), or leave the current estimate. The treeof worksheets is an easily navigable tree that has the entire reportinghierarchy that the user is allowed to see. The manager can go to anyindividual or group and drill into the estimates and also override them.For either managers or users editing their forecast, the system mayleverage additional server round trips to perform partial screen updateslevering technologies such as AJAX to make modifications, update data,and perform navigation around the data without requiring a screenrefresh to occur on the client side.

While tracking pipelines, the system can track and allow the user toedit/view the worst case, likely, and best case estimates of thepipeline as shown in FIG. 6. This information helps provide visibilityinto the performance of the company. Each user's pipeline can haverollup numbers that are calculated based on the cumulative values ofeach opportunity. They can edit the opportunities right in the worksheetviews, or if they are a manager, can override the sales representatives'values for the opportunities. The current pipeline and quota status canbe viewed in reports, graphed, and exported to external systems andthese options will be available for past, current, and future timeperiods.

The system may further include the ability to bookmark an item/objectsince, in a multi-user software environment, some items are moreimportant than others. In particular, the system permits a user to flagone or more record(s) for monitoring and/or for easy reference laterwherein the record may be flagged by including a field in the datarecord containing an indication of whether or not the particular datarecord has been bookmarked. The server 107 can then track which itemsare bookmarked by each user and may also permit the user to be notifiedof any changes to that item (updates, more information, relatedactivity, . . . ). The user interface of the system may provide eachuser with a shortcut mechanism for getting to their bookmarked itemsquickly. The shortcut mechanism may, for example, be an icon or menu onthe screen, a page that shows a categorized list of bookmarked items, orany other mechanism for allowing users to select items. The system userinterface may also include, a user interface for monitoring andmaintaining the bookmarks that allows users to remove bookmarks thatthey no longer needed, either individually, in bulk, and/or based onfilter criteria.

FIG. 7 illustrates a duplicate checking method 170 in accordance withthe invention since a common problem faced by companies leveraging CRMsystems is that duplicate records invariably get entered into the systemand it is desirable to be able to remove those duplicate records. Instep 172, the system determines if a duplicate check trigger hasoccurred wherein the duplicate check trigger may be an import operation,on a periodic time interval and/or when data updates have occurred. Whenthe duplicate check trigger has occurred, the duplicate check process isperformed. In accordance with the invention, third party analysis andverification mechanisms may be leveraged (postal code lookup, addressverification, etc.) during the duplication check process. In step 174,the system determines if one or more field(s) in a data record arespecified by the user. If specific fields are not identified by theuser, then in step 176, a typical duplicate check is performed. If theuser does specify at least one field, then in step 178, the systemperforms a field based duplicate record check. For instance, if the userwere validating a list of leads from a third party vendor and wanted tomake sure that they did not get duplicates, they can look forduplications based on the email address and therefore have the systemcheck for any contact records with duplicate email addresses. In step180, when a duplicate is detected by the system, the system performsduplicate data record resolution. The system may permit variousdifferent duplicate data record resolutions including, for example,merging extra data, overriding data, a manual merge or rejecting theduplicate. For the merging the extra data, if the record being checkedcontains data that is not present in the current record, the data ismerged into the existing data record. For the overriding data option, ifthe data record being checked contains data that is an update to therecord that is currently in the system, the values in the new recordshould overwrite the values in the current record. In the manual merge,any errors are held for human review and, if an interactive import is inprogress, the user can potentially manually merge the records rightaway. For the reject duplicate option, the system presumes that thecurrent record should always take precedence over the record beingchecked and therefore does not allow the record being checked to beinserted into the database.

During the duplicate checking method, it is possible that the processcannot be completed immediately. So, if the user runs out of time or ifthe user's changes need to be audited, the duplicate handling can belogged for later review or the actual resolution is delayed until reviewhas occurred, or the anticipated resolutions can just logged and thenlater implemented.

The duplicate checking mechanism can also be used to merge data updatesfrom an external system. As long as there exists a mapping from theexternal system to the system that is importing the record, any recordsthat have already been imported can be used to update the data whichallows for exports from external systems to be used on a regular basesto replace the data which is a common occurrence when the system may nothave the ability to directly integrate with another system.

The system may also provide periodic, scheduled duplicate record checksand validation checks and, when conflicts or issues are found, thoseconflicts/issues may be reported to users, administrators, or beautomatically resolved. The duplicate checking process can use pastresults to determine the likely result of any conflict. For instance, ifthe street name was misspelled but otherwise matches, and the emailaddress is exact, that might be a case where you will most likely mergethe two records. The system can present the classes of issues and makerecommendations to allow for bulk resolution of any issues.

The duplicate checks are typically run against similar kinds of objects.For instance, if a user is importing a lead (a type of person that hasnot yet started the purchasing process), then the duplicate checkingsystem should check all people objects for duplicates. If the userimports a lead that is already in the system as a contact, the duplicateshould be found. The system works on similar data types and similarobject types. An email address, for instance, can be checked against anyemail address in the system, and not just the email address of acontact.

The system may also permit integration of a forum-based discussionformat into the system wherein the threaded discussions may becategorized and/or tied to specific business objects and thus provide anatural mechanism for users to collaborate with each other and allow forthat collaboration to be naturally captured in the system. The systemmay support one or more forum topics wherein each topic is intended tobe a discrete category of discussion with examples including collectionsof knowledge, recent news announcements, and interactive dialog whendiagnosing a problem and preparing a customer response. For forumdiscussion threads that are tied to one or more business objects, thethreads may be displayed in the user interface under or associated withthat business object and thus allow users to quickly see whatdiscussions are available for a particular topic/object.

The system may also support offline clients wherein each offline clientis a partial local copy of the system that is typically installed on aportable machine or a machine in a remote office. Once the offlineclient is created, changes and updates to the master system can besynced with the offline client. The offline client can be used, forexample, as a hot backup for the production system leveraging regularsynching or it can be used by traveling employees. The offline clientmay be created with a single download that may install some or all ofthe basic system requirements (database, web server, PHP application)and install the Sugar software application. The installation process maybe integrated to be able to automatically drive the entire install fromone user interface or from configuration files. Thus, a one stepprocedure may install and configure the database, web server and PHPstack, install and convert the Sugar offline client and pre-populate theuser data. This “convert” process involves logging into the main systemto authenticate, and then pulling down the appropriate user's data fromthe main server. When new upgrades are applied to the server, theoffline clients can be automatically upgraded. This will apply anylogic, database, or code updates without any user intervention orexpertise. When data changes are transmitted between the server andoffline client, batch transfers and inserts may be used to speed up theprocess. If there are too many changes coming from the server side downto the client, the entire row, table, or database may be re-transmitted.If the sync fails for any reason, it can be resumed where it left off.

For each offline client, the detection of what files have changed andneed to be updated can leverage file modification time, file creationtime, file MD5s, or any known mechanisms. Once the file list is built,the system may compress the files that need to be transmitted into oneor more packages in order to make the transfer more efficient. After async has taken place, the system may present the user a list of what isnew or has changed which will help the user keep up to date with thecurrent information in their system. During the sync process, the systemmay change compression settings or change what is synced based on thebandwidth between the offline client and the server. If the bandwidth islow, the system might allow a user to perform large syncs later orschedule them at night when the server can take more time to process thesync request and network congestion is decreased. If the server shouldbecome unavailable during this time for a maintenance window, theoffline client should automatically enter a holding pattern and retrylater until the server becomes available again.

The system may also include Sugar Planet which is a system to map datafrom the CRM system or other business systems into a real worldrepresentation of that data as shown in FIG. 8. A preferred embodimentis mapping/plotting geographical data (such as addresses) onto a globeor a map so that the system provides the ability to visually map thelocations of various Sugar objects such as Account business locations,and Lead and Contact addresses onto a map which is useful for optimizingaccount visits and for territory planning and management. There are manykinds of data that can be mapped using this mechanism including addressinformation, usage and/or activity information that can be representedon the map or globe. A set of indicators on the map may be modified toindicate the appropriate level of activity so that, for example, largericons, vertical spikes, or color coding (among other options) may beused to show activity levels. For example, as shown in FIG. 8 (whichshows indicators placed onto the Google Earth program), an indicator 190may increase in size based on the activity in the particular location.Some of the many types of activities on which this could be used includeresponses to marketing campaigns, website traffic, incoming leads,product usage, product issues, customer sites, lead sites, and amount ofproduct purchased.

Using SugarPlanet and data stored in system, users of the system canquickly map individual or sets of addresses from Accounts, Leads andContacts, depicting their locations in a mapping program such as GoogleEarth. Using web site logs, server side logs, inbound email serverinformation, customers can quickly get a latitude and longitude for theregistered address of the server and render it on the map. If a companywere to have a product that can periodically send anonymous data to thecompany, the source of that data can be tracked in Sugar to helpunderstand usage patterns. The system is able to convert an IP addressto a physical address or a geocode which is then plotted against amapping tool such as Google Earth. The maps and globes can be renderedto show multiple types of data simultaneously and the mappinginformation may be packaged in a portable format that can be transmittedbetween users so that users can then select what types of data theywould like to see in their map or globe.

In a preferred embodiment, translation data for IP address to physicaladdress to geocode would be cached by the server to decrease the numberof requests for geocode information. Existing addresses could bepresented without any external input. Periodic refreshes can be utilizedto ensure that the cache remains up to date and contains only validinformation. The system may also allow for data abstraction at differentlevels so that, if you wanted to see usage by country for instance, alladdresses could be mapped to a country with only one data point percountry.

FIG. 9 illustrates a portal of the customer relationship managementsystem. Similar to the offline client (described above), the system mayalso support a portal application 192 that is a separate small instanceof the CRM system that connects back to a primary installation 100 overa network 190 leveraging a known web services API such as the simpleobject access protocol (SOAP), representational state transfer (REST)protocol or a custom protocol. The portal may also be hosted on the samesystem as the CRM system or be a portion of the same software as the CRMsystem or hosted on a separate server in a different location such aswhen the primary installation is behind a firewall and the portal isoutside of the firewall as described below in more detail. The portalmay also leverage any other connection mechanism, including but notlimited to: arbitrary protocols, direct database access, and batchupdates via files. A studio tool (shown in FIG. 10) allows a user toview and modify the user interface (UI) for the portal application andthen program the portal to get an updated UI from the primaryinstallation over the network. FIG. 11 shows a portion created using thestudio tool. The portal may request the updates (194) from the primaryinstallation and then receive the updates from the primary installation(196). In more detail, a user may change the layout (add fields, removefields, rearrange, etc.) and then hit the update button (to synchronizethe portal with the primary installation). In the UI, the userauthenticates for the portal, and the portal is updated. In this manner,the portal will pull updates to UI layout, look and feel, and any codechanges that will affect the site from the primary installation. Theportal may perform the update when instructed to by the user or theportal, once set to update, is able to automatically update its UIlayout, look and feel or code whenever the UI layout, look and feel orcode of the primary installation is changed.

FIGS. 12 and 13 illustrate an example of a portal having a cases portiongenerated using the studio tool wherein FIG. 12 illustrates a casesportion of the portal whose user interface is generated through theupdate and whose data is pulled from the primary installation of thesystem. An example of the use of a portal is when the primaryinstallation of the system is behind a firewall of the company while theportal is outside of the firewall, but is able to provide the same userinterface, data and functionality as the system behind the firewall.Typical portal configurations limit the data presented to the user in acustomer-facing portal. This is frequently done, but not required. Theportal prevents a malicious person from hacking into the primaryinstallation behind the firewall since the portal does not provide theperson with access to the primary installation. FIG. 13 illustrates auser interface of the portal when the user selects a particular casefrom the list in FIG. 12 to review. FIG. 14 illustrate an example of anewsletter portion of the portion in FIGS. 12 and 13. In this example,the user interface in FIG. 14 permits a user to select a newsletter asshown in FIG. 14 so that the newsletters portion of the portal providesthe same functionality as the primary installation.

The portal, the offline client described above as well as the overallsystem shown in FIGS. 1-8 may also utilize a novel user interfacerendering method in which metadata is used to render the user interface.FIG. 15 illustrates a user interface rendering method and FIG. 16illustrates an example of the metadata used to generate the userinterface (UI). In order to facilitate the ability to smoothly updateand improve the end user experience, a metadata driven UI is used. ThisUI rendering mechanism is applicable across many software products,including all of our products: the base CRM application, the portalapplication, and the offline client. It is composed of the metadatadefinition, Field Definitions, and the processing methodology.

The metadata definition (shown in FIG. 16) has a very simple format. Themetadata starts with an overview showing how the template should behandled and specifying any parameters that are needed. The example inFIG. 16 (written in the PHP language in this example but not required tobe in PHP) shows an array with 6 columns where most of the data is infour columns. The columns may be used in an alternating fashion of labelthen value. A next section 1600 of the metadata contains the informationneeded to layout the UI in the template. Each row is an array containingthe definitions of the columns. Empty items (on the right) imply that afield should expand to include that item. Blank items will show up as agap in the UI. For each element, the field that is used is specifiedalong with any options needed to complete the rendering. One optionshown in the example is for the “description” field (“‘nl2br’=>true”)this sample option turns on a conversion that makes all linefeeds in thedata become HTML “<BR>” tags to ensure that the content is properlyrendered.

Another component of the metadata driven UI is the SugarField shown inFIG. 15. The SugarFields are designed for the display of specific datatypes. They are defined in code and have multiple ways of rendering theUI for each type (generally they have one way for each kind of view).For instance, a “number” field will have one way of rendering in a readonly view and another way to render in a editable view. There is nolimit to the number of distinct views that a SugarField can support.

The rendering engine takes the template and the metadata and feeds theminto the template handler as shown in FIG. 15. The template handler isresponsible for combining the template and metadata while leveraging theSugarFieldHandler to render a generic template. The generic template isthen processed by a template engine (one example engine may be Smarty)that leverages the SugarField implementation to create a generic UI thatis customized to match the look and feel needed for the final rendering.This final template may be cached on either the client or server (inmemory, on disk, or on a server) to save repeat processing. The serveror client then combine the actual data that needs to be displayed withthe final template to produce the UI for the end user. The decision asto where the template and the data are combined to produce the final UImay be based upon the resources of the client, caching capability of theclient, and the bandwidth between the client and the server. The finalUI for the end user may also be cached on the server or client (inmemory, on disk, or on a server) to save repeat processing.

While the foregoing has been with reference to a particular embodimentof the invention, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the artthat changes in this embodiment may be made without departing from theprinciples and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined bythe appended claims.

1. A business software application system, comprising: a client; aprimary installation further comprising a database containing aplurality of pieces of information, one or more modules that access thedatabase to pull pieces of information from the database based on arequest from the client and display a user interface to the usercontaining the requested information, one or more controllers thatcontrol access by the client to the one or more modules and thedatabase; and a portal generated based on the primary installationwherein a user interface of the portal is updated based on a userinterface of the primary installation.
 2. The system of claim 1, whereinthe primary installation further comprises a customer relationshipmanagement installation.
 3. The system of claim 1 further comprising anetwork that is capable of coupling the primary installation and theportal using a web services application programming interface.
 4. Thesystem of claim 3, wherein the web services application programminginterface further comprises a simple object access protocol, arepresentational state transfer protocol or a custom protocol.
 5. Thesystem of claim 1 further comprising a server computer that hosts theprimary installation and a server computer in a different location thathosts the portal.
 6. The system of claim 1 further comprising a servercomputer that hosts the primary installation and the portal.
 7. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the primary installation and portal share thedatabase.
 8. The system of claim 3, wherein the primary installationfurther comprises a studio tool that allows a user to modify the userinterface of the portal
 9. The system of claim 3, wherein the primaryinstallation allows the user to modify the database to modify the userinterface of the portal.
 10. The system of claim 8, wherein the studiotool changes a layout, a piece of content, a look and feel or a codechange to the primary installation and the changes are updated over thenetwork to the portal.
 11. The system of claim 1 further comprising afirewall wherein the primary installation is inside of the firewall andwherein the portal is outside the firewall.
 12. The system of claim 1further comprising a user interface rendering engine wherein the userinterface of the primary installation and portal are generated by ametadata input into the user interface rendering engine.
 13. The systemof claim 12 further comprising a template handler and wherein the userinterface of the primary installation and portal are generated by ametadata input and a template.
 14. A business software applicationsystem, comprising: a client; an installation further comprising adatabase containing a plurality of pieces of information, one or moremodules that access the database to pull pieces of information from thedatabase based on a request from the client and display a user interfaceto the user containing the requested information, one or morecontrollers that control access by the client to the one or more modulesand the database; and a user interface rendering engine wherein the userinterface of the primary installation and portal are generated by a setof metadata input into the user interface rendering engine.
 15. Thesystem of claim 14, wherein the installation further comprises acustomer relationship management installation.
 16. The system of claim14, wherein the user interface rendering engine generates a gap in theuser interface that corresponds to a blank item in the set of metadata.17. The system of claim 14, wherein the user interface rendering engineexpands a field in the user interface to include a location when anempty item is located in the set of metadata.
 18. The system of claim14, wherein the set of metadata further comprising an option to changethe rendering of the user interface to be rendered by the set ofmetadata.
 19. The system of claim 18, wherein the option furthercomprises a field based rendering option.
 20. The system of claim 19,wherein the field based rendering option further comprises an option tochange the formatting of a particular field or change the view of theparticular field.
 21. A business software application system,comprising: a client; an installation further comprising a databasecontaining a plurality of pieces of information, one or more modulesthat access the database to pull pieces of information from the databasebased on a request from the client and display a user interface to theuser containing the requested information, one or more controllers thatcontrol access by the client to the one or more modules and thedatabase; a template handler that combines a set of metadata and atemplate to generate a generic template; a template engine thatgenerates a final template of the installation from the generictemplate; and a user interface rendering engine wherein the userinterface of the installation is generated based on the final templateand a set of data associated with the installation stored in thedatabase.
 22. The system of claim 21, wherein the installation furthercomprises a customer relationship management installation.
 23. Thesystem of claim 21 further comprising a server computer that hosts theinstallation and a cache that stores the final template.
 24. The systemof claim 23, wherein the cache further comprises a server computermemory or a server disk.
 25. The system of claim 21 further comprising acomputer that hosts the client and wherein the client has a cache thatstores the final template.
 26. The system of claim 23, wherein the cachefurther comprises a memory of the client computer or a disk of theclient computer.